For

Excellent build quality

Nice lens

Lovely colour reproduction

Sharp focusing

Against

Poor image quality at high sensitvity settings

Over exposes in complex light

The miniature mode doesn't impress

Samsung WB700's 18x optical zoom (24mm to a lengthy 432mm in 35mm terms) Schneider Kreuznach Varioplan lens may be enough to make it attractive to many, but the W700 also has program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual (PASM) that keen photographers are always eager for.

Along with the PASM options, there's also a smart auto mode, video, scene modes and the dual IS option which enables both optical and digital image stabilisers.

There are also the digital effects available on the WB700. Labelled as smart filters, there are some run of the mill ones seen on previous cameras for a couple of years now, as well as some funky new ones.

The filters that have been present before include the Half Tone Dot, Sketch, Fisheye, Vignette and Custom RGB. We really like the newly added Old Film modes though. The camera will record a random filter on each picture making them look different. It's a shame, however, that the old film filters can't be used in video mode.

With the decent lens, good build quality, long zoom and manual controls the WB700 looks set to take on the popular Panasonic TZ models. One distinct advantage that the Samsung model has is its cheaper price, around the £210 mark on the high street or £200 online.